After Maurice Harkless, last year’s Big East Rookie of the Year, announced he was going pro, St. John’s recruit JaKarr Sampson joked he had forced out his friend and main competitor.

“He knew the big dog was coming,’’ Sampson said.

The Big East made it official yesterday — Sampson, the electric 6-foot-8 forward with the 1,000-watt grin, is the league’s Rookie of the Year. But unlike Harkless, who elected to enter the NBA Draft, the early line strongly suggests Sampson will return for his sophomore season.

“I don’t want to just make it to the NBA — I want to be a pro in the league,’’ Sampson said. “I want to be an All-Star and be there for a long time. [I] don’t want to be there for two years and have to play in the D-League or go overseas.

“When I go to the NBA, I plan on being there for a long time. I’m going to let my game develop, continue to get stronger and keep getting better.”

St. John’s, which faces Villanova tonight (7:00, ESPN2) in a crucial quarterfinal round game of a historic Big East Conference Tournament, would be a beast with Sampson in next season’s new Big East.

Sampson would headline a front line that includes 6-9 Chris Obekpa, the shot-blocking phenom, and Orlando Sanchez, the versatile 24-year-old 6-9 forward from the Dominican Republic who was ineligible until the NCAA cleared him for next season.

This season, coach Steve Lavin has said on many occasions, is a bridge to next season, but the span is not complete. The Johnnies (16-14, 8-10) were an NCAA Tournament bubble team just three weeks ago before losing six of seven.

They need a win tonight to enhance their NIT credentials. They dream of going on a 2011 UConn-like run, shocking the world by winning this hoops jubilee in the Garden.

“The dream is still alive,’’ forward Sir’Dominic Pointer said. “And we’re going to try to make it happen.’’

Easier said than done. The Johnnies dropped their league opener to Villanova, 98-86, in OT on Jan. 2. D’Angelo Harrison scored 36 points, his best performance of the season.

But Lavin suspended Harrison for the rest of the season on Feb. 28 for what sources described as conduct detrimental to the team. Pointer missed the Red Storm’s regular-season finale, a gut-wrenching, 69-67 overtime loss on Saturday to Marquette, which shared the league’s regular-season title with Georgetown and Louisville.

“I think you’ll see a different team,’’ said Sampson, who averaged 14.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and won Big East Rookie of the Week honors seven times.

The Wildcats (19-12, 10-8) also are a different team. They posted victories over Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette and Syracuse and could be a sleeper this week.

By all standards the Wildcats are an NCAA Tournament at-large team, but a 20th victory would all but ensure ’Nova will go dancing. A Big East team with 20 wins has made the field 96.7 percent (147 of 152) of the time since automatic bids went into effect in 1982-83.

“I’ve said this a thousand times — there’s a part of me that would rather win the Big East Tournament than the NCAA Tournament,” Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. “I just enjoy being in New York. I enjoy the buzz in Manhattan, all the alumni that are there. There’s something so special about that.’’

Special is about to leave the building. Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Syracuse are playing in their final Big East tournaments, all headed to the ACC. Connecticut, not here because it failed to meet NCAA academic standards, was left out of the Catholic 7, which split from the league. Rutgers is joining the Big Ten in 2014.

The Big East next season will be comprised of the Catholic 7 plus Butler, Dayton and Xavier. St. John’s might be the top dog because its big dog is leaning toward returning.

“The personnel would be in place to have the opportunity to take the next step as a program here,’’ Lavin said. “We’d like to go to the NCAA Tournament on an annual basis, pretty basic.’’

* Georgetown coach John Thompson III was named the Big East’s Coach of the Year and his sophomore forward, Otto Porter, Jr., was named the conference’s Player of the Year in a unanimous vote.